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High sailing Pirates
Published July 11, 2009
Boaz running back Drew Phillips and linebacker Chase Williams are living the dream for prep football players.
The seniors are being pursued by college coaches, some of whom have already offered scholarships to the talented teammates.
The 6-foot, 174-pound Phillips holds offers from BYU, Wyoming, Idaho, SMU, Central Michigan, Samford and Tennessee-Martin.
New Mexico State could be the next school to offer him.
The 6-1, 196-pound Williams has offers from SMU, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Tennessee-Martin.
UAB and Troy are heavily recruiting both players, and Williams has received interest from North Carolina State.
Neither player expects to commit early.
“I might end up waiting until the end of the year, or might sign (commit) during the year,” Phillips said.
“I’m just going to wait and see what’s convenient for me and my family right now. Wait it out and just see how everything goes.
“So far, we really don’t have any close schools that have offered us. For me, it’s all (schools) out West because of the spread offense and my size and quickness.
“Like Alabama, they run the I (formation), and I’m just a little too little for the I right now. If I somehow could pack on 35 pounds, get like Mark Ingram or something …”
Williams said, “It depends on if I start off the season good, (but) I’d rather wait until the end of the season.”
Both players are participating in Boaz’s summer strength and conditioning program, trying to increase their weight and speed.
Phillips dropped pounds due to a case of mononucleosis he suffered during the 2008-09 basketball season.
He’s still trying to regain the weight he lost, and he hopes to tip the scales at 180 to 185 by the time the season starts.
Williams’ target weight is 200 to 205 by Aug. 27, when Boaz kicks off the season against Guntersville.
Between them, the Pirate stars logged thousands of miles in May and June traveling to compete in camps and combines, or just to visit campuses.
The NATS combine
Williams participated in the National Athletic Testing System combine in Prattville on May 23.
Williams saw his stock rise after a terrific performance in the event.
“Some of the top athletes in Alabama went,” Williams said.
“One of Prattville’s big-time players was there, and he’s pretty fast.
“We did the 40 (-yard dash), bench (press), 5-10-5, L-drill and broad jump.
“I had the fastest in L-drill and fastest in 5-10-5, and in my group I had the fastest 40 (4.6 seconds).”
Visiting the big ‘D’
In early June, both Williams and Phillips traveled to Dallas to visit SMU.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Phillips said. “It’s right there in downtown Dallas. You’re five miles away from the Dallas Cowboys (new) stadium.
“They’ve got the campus, and all around it is this big neighborhood, and like some of the Dallas Mavericks live there and some of the Dallas Cowboys live there.
“On their campus, they have this main strip, and they’ve got all the buildings on that one street so you’re not walking real far to go to one class.”
Both Pirates liked the fact the Mustang players’ dorm rooms are within 500 feet of the team’s training facility.
Boaz graduate Randy Ross, a member of the Marshall County Sports Hall of Fame, is director of football operations for SMU.
Phillips watched offensive film with Mustangs head coach June Jones while Williams watched film with defensive coordinator Tom Mason.
Williams said the SMU and Boaz defensive schemes are similar.
“Me and the defensive coach were talking, and I pretty much kind of knew the basics of what he was talking about,” he said.
“It caught his eye that I knew kind of what they were doing. I didn’t know the name of their plays, but I just knew what they were going to do.”
The Mustang coaches tried to convince Williams and Phillips to commit.
“We saw the weight room first, and then they took us to the locker room,” Phillips recalled.
“And right when we walk in they had this big table out, and they’ve got the SMU helmet in the middle and they’ve got a No. 1 jersey (for Phillips) and a No. 21 jersey (for Williams) laid out for us.”
Williams said: “They were trying to get us.”
The players tried on the jerseys and posed for photographs.
“They were like, ‘Y’all look good in the blue and red,’” Phillips said.
A Pirate in Provo
Immediately after returning from Dallas, Phillips flew out to Provo, Utah, to visit BYU and attend a one-day camp.
While in Provo, he spent time with high-profile recruits Jake Heaps, Ross Apo and Zac Stout, all of whom committed to BYU just prior to the one-day camp.
“Jake Heaps is the No. 1 quarterback in the nation,” Phillips said. “Ross Apo, he’s like the No. 12 receiver in the nation, but he’s the No. 1 receiver in Texas, and Zac Stout, he’s the No. 5 middle linebacker in the nation and he’s from California.”
During the camp, Phillips had the opportunity to work with Heaps.
“We went with our position coach, and we worked with our position coach on footwork and all that, and like how to do one-on-one coming out of the backfield against the linebacker,” Phillips said.
“We did that for 30 minutes, and then they brought the quarterbacks over.
“The coaches paired me and Jake together, and we didn’t have one incomplete pass. It was pretty impressive out there. They were real impressed with us.”
Michigan on his mind
Phillips’ mother, Michelle, is a Michigan native. She met Drew’s father, Joe, while both were serving in the military.
“My mom’s sister lives in Albion, which is about an hour away from Ann Arbor, and my uncle lives in Ypsilanti. I wouldn’t get homesick,” he said.
In June, Phillips attended camps at the University of Michigan and at Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant. The Chippewas are members of the Mid-American Conference.
“Central Michigan offered me the second day I was at the camp,” Phillips said.
“We ran our 40s — we were in the indoor facility — and I ran a 4.39 40 there, and then I ran a 4.21 5-10-5.
“I had a pretty good camp there.”
But the highlight of Phillips’ trip to Michigan was participating in the Wolverines camp in Ann Arbor.
“It’s been my dream since I was a little kid to play at Michigan,” Phillips said.
“I ate lunch with Coach (Fred) Jackson, the running backs coach, me and two other running backs. After the camp, (head coach) Rich Rodriguez told me I’d be getting tickets to the games.
“I talked to Coach Rodriguez. Me, my mom and my brother (Anthony) talked to him for about 15 minutes. They said they were going to start recruiting me, so that was pretty impressive.”
Phillips brought home the “Smokehouse” award for running backs from the Michigan camp.
“I ran a 4.43 40, and they invited the fastest people at the camp to come to this thing called Smokehouse, and you’d race the fastest people in your position,” Phillips recalled.
“I won the running backs and stuff. There was one cornerback who ran faster than me. He ran a 4.4 flat and I ran 4.41.”
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